Aldawsari Web posts point to Mideast uprisings

Online musings under the name of terrorist suspect Khalid Ali-M Aldawsari point to more Middle East uprisings, this time in Saudi Arabia, and this time with a date in advance: March 20.

Aldawsari, 20, a Saudi national living and attending college in Lubbock, is accused of buying chemicals off the Internet to create explosives as part of a terrorist plot aimed at targets across the United States. He appeared in federal court on the charges Friday.

In addition to supporting Muslim extremism, online posts show Aldawsari is a fan on a Facebook page calling for Saudi revolution starting March 20. Among other demands, the page asks the Saudi government to address unemployment and provide legislative elections, public freedoms and a constitution approved by the people.

In a notebook discovered by authorities in his Lubbock apartment, Aldawsari derides Saudi King Abdullah as "the traitor of the two holy places," according to a federal affidavit. The king ordinarily is referred to as the servant of the two holy places.

Aldawsari's journal writings reflect discontent that has stretched across the Arab world into one of its most stable corners, oil-rich Saudi Arabia. While some Facebook pages refer to a March 20 date, others not linked with Aldawsari's profile point to March 11, referring to a "day of rage" in one instance, a "revolution of longing" in another. One message calls for "the ousting of the regime."

Syed Tariq Anwar, a Pakistan native who teaches international business at West Texas A&M University, said he believes the uprisings will spread to other Islamic nations soon. Anwar said the countries in the Middle East and North Africa are governed by laws that limit freedom. From an economic standpoint, expanding democracy is beneficial, he said.

"As far as people are concerned, (those protesting) are just asking for a few things like democratic freedom and access to good living," he said.

In tacit recognition of the surge in anti-royal sentiment, Abdullah on Wednesday announced a $37 billion package of social benefits, including raises.

But there are fears that won't be enough, especially with the kingdom running a surplus of $450 billion and rising oil prices expected to add to the king's wealth.

The strength of the Saudi government, a stable and supportive military and the country's immense wealth provide an apparent safeguard against insurrection, but nothing is assured, said Rachel Bronson, the author of "Thicker Than Oil: America's Uneasy Partnership with Saudi Arabia."

"It's hard to block out flashbacks of President Jimmy Carter's 1977 New Year's Eve statement that Iran under the shah was an island of stability in a troubled region," Bronson wrote in Friday's Washington Post.

Carter's statement preceded the overthrow of the shah and the taking of American hostages.

And while unrest in the Middle East is hardly unusual, there are new forces feeding the fire this time, Anwar said.

Protests have spread quickly, mostly because of demographics and technology, he said. In addition, many Middle Eastern countries have high populations of young people who are easily influenced by movements, he said. Technology such as cell phones and social media are used to quickly spread messages and inform other politically active people, he said.

"Libya is covered almost 100 percent by cell phones. In Pakistan, 60 percent of the people there have at least one cell phone," Anwar said. "The median age in Libya is 24, and that age in Saudi Arabia is below 25. Technology and demographics, those two things have changed the ballgame."

It once took years and sometimes decades for people of developing countries to act, Anwar said.

"In these days, it takes a few weeks and sometimes hours," he said. "You can mobilize a lot of people."

While supportive of some of the demands for reform, Anwar concedes that uprisings can provide breeding grounds for terrorists: "Any uprising is going to excite a lot of people because they can be influenced very fast."